Drug War Chronicle #557 - October 24, 2008

Right now, all eyes are on November 4, but leading drug reform groups are already looking down the road to 2010 and beyond.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) held its 37th annual national conference in Berkeley, California. Here's a report.

StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) is seeking volunteers in the DC area to help with our membership drive; and from anywhere to help with a writing-based project starting next month.

Thank you to the many Drug War Chronicle readers who have submitted feedback. Here is what a few of you have had to say.

"Dying to Get High," by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb, is a groundbreaking work that provides an in-depth portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical marijuana collectives.

Cops dealing drugs, cops stealing money. More of the same old same old.

With election day less than two weeks away, the drug czar and California's prison guard union are trying to defeat California's groundbreaking treatment-not-jail Nonviolent Offender Rehabiliation Act (NORA) initiative.

The drug czar's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign is an expensive failure, a new study has found.

For the second time in three years, students at Florida State University have approved an initiative calling on administrators to equalize penalties for marijuana possession and underage alcohol consumption on campus.

Earlier this month, DEA agents strip-searched 147 Chinese nationals arriving in Saipan on vacation. The government of the Northern Mariana Islands is most unhappy.

Research results from the North American Opiate Maintenance Initiative (NAOMI) are in, and the researchers say heroin maintenance is safe, effective, and economical.

Four out of every five pounds of pot grown in the Netherlands is destined for export, says a top Dutch cop, and the black market trade is generating violent crime as well as big profits.

Iran has announced it will not execute drug offenders who are minors. Meanwhile, it continues to execute drug offenders who are adults.

Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.

Mexico Violence, Jail or Not to Jail for Relapse, Drug War for Budget Cutting, the Marijuana War on Young People, by Talvi, Newman, Conason and Armentano on Alternet, Huffington Post and Salon.

The Marijuana Policy Project is hiring for six exciting positions -- one in Arizona, five in Nevada preparing for a 2012 ballot initiative.

"Smoking Pot Won't Make You Stupid, But Stupid People Do Smoke Pot," "Parents Are Using Drug Dogs on Their Own Children," "Wow, I Almost Forgot It Was Drug Free Work Week," "Why Do Prison and Alcohol Lobbies Oppose Drug Treatment?," "Giuliani Robocall Attacks Obama on Drug Sentencing," "The Drug War is Destroying Mexico Right Before Our Eyes," "Could Mexico City Become the Next Amsterdam?," "The Drug War Sends White People Into Treatment, While Black People Get Felonies," "Drug Czar Tells Cartels to Surrender or Die," "More Drug War = More Violence," "Further Evidence That the Drug War Doesn't Protect Children," "DEA Thrills Schoolchildren With Awesome Drug War Parade."

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